Luke 7:41-50: a reflection

41“A certain lender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42When they couldn’t pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?” 43Simon answered, “He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most.” He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” 44Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45You gave me no kiss, but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46You didn’t anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” 48He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49Those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

When a woman known as a sinner washes Jesus' feet with her tears and anoints them, Jesus' host, a self-righteous Pharisee, silently disdains her. So Jesus tells a small parable: two debtors, one owing a huge sum, one a small one, are both forgiven; which will love the lender more? The one forgiven more, Simon answers, and Jesus agrees. Then he applies it: her many sins are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.

Notice the connection Jesus draws between forgiveness and love. The woman's extravagant love, the tears, the kisses, the costly ointment, flowed from her deep awareness of how much she had been forgiven. And Simon's cold, minimal love flowed from his sense that he needed little forgiveness. The one who knows the depth of their debt, and the wonder of its being cancelled, loves greatly; the one who thinks they owe little, loves little. Love is proportioned to the sense of forgiveness received.

That is worth pondering about our own hearts. If our love for God is cool and small, it may be because we have not really grasped how much we have been forgiven, imagining, like Simon, that our debt was modest. The woman loved much because she knew she had been forgiven much. The deeper we grasp the greatness of our own forgiveness, the greater our love will grow. Do not think your debt was small. Grasp how much you have been forgiven, and let that awareness kindle in you the kind of love the woman poured out at Jesus' feet.

Lord Jesus, the woman loved much because she knew she had been forgiven much, while self-righteous Simon, thinking he owed little, loved little. When my love for you is cool and small, show me that I have underestimated my debt. Help me grasp the greatness of the forgiveness you have poured out on me, and let that awareness kindle in me a love like hers, extravagant and grateful. I have been forgiven much; teach me to love much.